West Ham laboured to a second successive pre-season draw at Portman Road tonight against an industrious Ipswich Town.

The Championship side held the Hammers to a goalless draw on a balmy summer's evening that saw around 2,000 travelling fans make the short trip up the A12 to Suffolk.

One of the few highlights on a fairly low key evening was the debut of Argentinian striker Mauro Zarate, who played the entire second half - although fellow new arrival Cheikhou Kouyate also impressed during his 45 minutes on the field.

Aaron Cresswell, another of Sam Allardyce's summer signings made an immediate return to his former club, from whom he joined West Ham recently. Once again the Hammers featured a completely different team in each half.

Town manager Mick McCarthy felt the match had been beneficial to his team. "It was a good work-out for both teams – well all four teams if you like, with us both playing a different 11 in the second-half.

“We had some good chances in the first-half. It was a bit more of a stalemate in the second-half but it’s never easy changing things around at half-time and players starting the game then."